Sarah Gordon
The Catalyst
Ideas with a spark, energy, range and the ability to start things.
Sarah Gordon emerges in this interview as a Catalyst: someone who identifies inflection points and mobilizes disparate actors toward systemic change. Gordon draws on her FT career to frame impact investing not as niche altruism but as a coming market imperative, connecting pension trustees, policymakers, and the public into a single movement. She repeatedly emphasizes acceleration and momentum, describing the Institute's launch as arriving at 'a sweet spot' of converging pressures. Her leadership style is energetic and coalition-building, seeking to convene without controlling, directing stakeholders to answers rather than holding them. Gordon's insistence on changing processes over mindsets, whether for gender equity or ESG adoption, reflects a Catalyst's preference for durable structural ignition over performative gesture. Her transition from journalism to institution-building is itself catalytic, converting narrative influence into organizational leverage.
“We are here to get more money into positive social and environmental investment, investment that delivers a positive social environmental benefit alongside a financial return.”
“Cultural change is not by changing mindsets, it's by changing processes. That's more difficult than standing up and saying as many particularly male leaders do, trumpeting their feminist credentials.”
“We believe very strongly that it is those companies that engage in genuinely sustainable behaviour that are making their future profit streams far more resilient.”
Money Maze Podcast: “Sarah Gordon, CEO, Impact Investing Institute”
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